Glock 43 failing to feed HP

divil · October 18, 2017, 05:35 PM

I just tried using JHP ammo for the first time in this G43 and it jammed when releasing the slide on the first round, again and again. Each time, racking the slide fixed it. Once it even happened while firing, but all the other instances were just chambering the first round of a mag.

I bought this gun new and have only fired a few hundred rounds of FMJ through it before this.

The ammo was Federal Hydra Shok. I tried loading some Winchester JHP I had at home and although it was mostly reliable, I was able to reproduce the problem once (pic attached). I looks like the nose is just stuck on the feed ramp.

Then I noticed that the 2 factory magazines both have this weird little dip gouged into the follower. (more pics attached). Is this normal, and if not, could it be the problem? Thanks!

JERRYS. · October 18, 2017, 09:22 PM

try mag guts. you shouldn't have to, but try them.

CalmerThanYou · October 18, 2017, 09:30 PM

Checked my follower and it has a small dimple in the same place, yours seems to have become deeper and larger. Seems like it would not be drastic enough to cause feeding issues though??

Doc Holliday 1950 · October 18, 2017, 09:44 PM

Had similar issue when I first shot my nib G43. Bought new
magazines & problem never happened again. Sounds weird
but that’s what it took to remady the problem.

adamBomb · October 19, 2017, 07:46 AM

I would try to reproduce it with the FMJ and get a new magazine and test that as well with both types of ammo. This will help you determine if its the ammo, mags, or pistol.

otasan · October 19, 2017, 08:41 AM

This feed jam occurs because the bottom of the hollow point hits the bottom of the feed ramp. You need a new follower in your magazine.

RSKENT · October 20, 2017, 12:30 PM

My G43 feeds hollow points just fine. My magazines also don’t have the divot that yours do.
Have you tried to send your photos to Glock? It would be interesting to find out what they think.

divil · October 20, 2017, 12:40 PM

Thanks for the input everyone.

I have not called Glock about the magazine marks. However I have asked on other forums and the consensus from various people is that these marks on the follower are common, and not the problem.

SonOfScubaDiver · October 20, 2017, 01:45 PM

Maybe the gun just doesn't like that particular ammo. Glocks aren't known for being particularly finicky when it comes to ammo choices, but maybe this one is. I've heard of people polishing the feed ramp to address feeding issues. Maybe that would work.

smee78 · October 20, 2017, 04:02 PM

Interesting problem your having, how are you releasing the slide on the new mag? Buy pulling the slide back and letting go or the mag release? Your not trying to let the slide go forward slowly are you?

divil · October 20, 2017, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Interesting problem your having, how are you releasing the slide on the new mag? Buy pulling the slide back and letting go or the mag release? Your not trying to let the slide go forward slowly are you?

Good question! I pull it all the way back and let it go every time.

L-2 · October 20, 2017, 09:10 PM

My G43 won't feed the first round of ammo if the top round (of any type of ammo I've used) is not completely pushed back into the magazine. The loading of the G43 is the most sensitive of my semiautos.

TailGator · October 21, 2017, 10:13 AM

Unless the lighting is playing tricks on me, that feed ramp looks pretty marked up, more than I would expect. There may be only a few hanging up, but there could be a considerably higher number that are not feeding smoothly and making the ramp rougher and rougher. I might be calling Glock by now if it was mine.

T. O'Heir · October 21, 2017, 12:07 PM

"...the nose is just stuck on the feed ramp..." Angle of the cartridge in the mag is too low. Usually fixed by opening the mag lips a tick.
A new follower is a $3 part. Out of stock, naturally.
http://www.glockmeister.com/G43-Maga...ctinfo/G33390/

tangolima · October 21, 2017, 12:27 PM

Sounds like it is problem only with the 1st round out of a full mag. The follower shouldn't be the cause.

It is a subcompact Glock. It is pretty hard to shove the last round (top round) into the mag as the mag has very limited space. Feeding a round into the chamber requires the round goes down a little further in the mag. It would be hard if the mag is already bottoms out. It can be improved by shaving a little plastic off the underside of the follower. I did a few of those for a customer.

Another option is of course to load the mag one round less.

-TL

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

smee78 · October 21, 2017, 02:51 PM

I would try to run the gun with one less round in the mags and see if it does it again hollow points and ball. I also would do a little polishing on the feed ramp to ensure there are no burs. If that does not work then I would look into sending it back home for repair.

divil · October 21, 2017, 03:05 PM

Thanks for the advice everyone. I can't make it happen with FMJ, only JHP. The ramp is actually much smoother than it looks. I took the barrel out for a closer look and although it had some dirt and tiny flecks of copper, it has no damage of any kind.

I will say that I'm usually careful to seat the rounds all the way back, but I've tried loading them too far forward to see if that will reproduce the problem with the Winchester JHPs I have lying around...but it doesn't seem to matter. Also, these mags are quite easy to compress compared to the double stacks, and even with all 6 loaded, there's no problem pushing down about another 1/2 cartridge diameter.

I will have to get some more of the same ammo and do some more experimenting. I'll report back what I can find out. At this point it looks like calling Glock for help is inevitable though!

otasan · October 21, 2017, 07:18 PM

This use to happen in my G17 a decade ago. Glock made follower changes to my magazines and it fixed it.

divil · October 21, 2017, 09:21 PM

Well, I went shopping and bought various different JHP rounds, and spent literally hours testing the gun. Here's what I found out:

* it's the 147gr Hydrashok that's the biggest troublemaker, the 124 seems fine.
* when it happens, I discovered that tapping the mag home instead of racking the slide also fixes it. However, doing this in advance doesn't improve things (I think it might actually make it worse but I would need to spend a lot more time to be certain).
* it happens a lot less often if I only load 5 instead of 6, but it does still happen sometimes.
* it happens a bit more often with one magazine than the other, but definitely happens with both.

With the various brands I bought, I did the following experiment. I loaded the mag with 5 of the 147gr Hydrashok, then for the top round I loaded 1 of the brand being tested, racked the slide, dropped the mag, unchambered the round, put it back in the mag, and repeated all that 10 times. Here are the failure rates I got:

Hydrashok 147gr: 4-8/10
Hydrashok 124gr: 0/10
PMC Blazer: 0/10
Speer Gold Dot: 0/10
Fiocchi : 1/10
Hornady CD : 0/20

Still 0 failures out of several hundred for any brand of FMJ.

Throughout this experiment I periodically repeated 10 cycles of the Hydrashok as a control, hence the varying failure rate. It was pretty consistent.

I find it weird that the lighter Hydrashok appears flawless. I have to test that one more but my hands are sore now so it will have to wait. Interestingly, you can see a difference in these 2 weights. The lighter ones have a crimp mark around the circumference of the case, and the heavier ones don't. I measure the length of each brand and they're all very close to 1.1". There's a small variation between brands but I couldn't see any connection with overall length and reliability. Hondary Critical Defence were the longest and they were totally reliable.

Anyhoo...I think the magazines are suspect and I might give Glock a call and see what they say.

otasan · October 23, 2017, 09:38 AM

I would imagine that the 147 cartridge would jam on the bottom of the barrel feed ramp more. The round is slightly longer than the 124gr rounds. The 147gr cartridge starts closer to the bottom of the feed ramp.

divil · October 23, 2017, 09:43 AM

Quote:

I would imagine that the 147 cartridge would jam on the bottom of the barrel feed ramp more. The round is slightly longer than the 124gr rounds. The 147gr cartridge starts closer to the bottom of the feed ramp.

How much longer? I can't measure any difference in length between the 124 and 147 gr. Plus, I tested other rounds that are longer and had no issues.

I did find out some more interesting things which I posted about here

Long story short, the 147gr Hydrashok rounds have a larger rim than all other 9mm rounds I can find, including the 124gr Hydrashok. All the others have a rim diameter that matches the rear end of the case. But the 147gr Hydrashok has a rim that's 0.1mm bigger. So if you take 2 of them and slide them together, they don't slide past each other smoothly - the rims catch. All the others slide smoothly. This *seems* to make the 147 Hydrashok stack more loosely in the magazine. But I really don't know if that has anything to do with the issue or not.

otasan · October 23, 2017, 09:46 AM

The designers of the 147gr 9mm rounds should have done more research work.

FITASC · October 23, 2017, 10:50 AM

147s were originally designed for sub guns - maybe small handgun designers should have done more homework...

otasan · October 23, 2017, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FITASC

147s were originally designed for sub guns - maybe small handgun designers should have done more homework...

True.

divil · October 23, 2017, 07:58 PM

I called Glock and they said they'd replace the mags if they're not marked "01", but I checked and they are.

I also found this which seems to confirm a lot of what I found regarding the case dimensions of the 147gr Hydrashok. The author says that having a rim makes the cartridge more prone to what he called "nosedive" (i.e. getting stuck on the feed ramp due to not pointing upwards enough). He also says single stack mags are more prone to this anyway.

Since my measurements show that the 147gr round has a rim that's 0.004" wider than the rim of every other 9mm cartridge (including even the 124gr Hydrashok) I think that's bound to be a factor. But still, there has to be something wrong with the magazines since other people aren't having this issue.

October 18, 2017, 09:44 PM	#4
Doc Holliday 1950 Senior Member Join Date: June 16, 2014 Location: Bout as south as it gets Posts: 1,238	Had similar issue when I first shot my nib G43. Bought new magazines & problem never happened again. Sounds weird but that’s what it took to remady the problem. __________________ Shoot well and be Accurate, Doc

October 20, 2017, 04:02 PM	#10
smee78 Senior Member Join Date: July 14, 2008 Location: South Carolina Posts: 2,918	Interesting problem your having, how are you releasing the slide on the new mag? Buy pulling the slide back and letting go or the mag release? Your not trying to let the slide go forward slowly are you? __________________ We know exactly where one cow with Mad-cow-disease is located, among the millions and millions of cows in America, but we haven't got a clue where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are

October 20, 2017, 09:10 PM	#12
L-2 Senior Member Join Date: September 8, 2004 Location: Nevada Posts: 522	My G43 won't feed the first round of ammo if the top round (of any type of ammo I've used) is not completely pushed back into the magazine. The loading of the G43 is the most sensitive of my semiautos. __________________ (former) Glock Armorer 1911 Armorer LEO (retired)

October 21, 2017, 12:07 PM	#14
T. O'Heir Senior Member Join Date: February 13, 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 12,453	"...the nose is just stuck on the feed ramp..." Angle of the cartridge in the mag is too low. Usually fixed by opening the mag lips a tick. A new follower is a $3 part. Out of stock, naturally. http://www.glockmeister.com/G43-Maga...ctinfo/G33390/ __________________ Spelling and grammar count!

October 21, 2017, 02:51 PM	#16
smee78 Senior Member Join Date: July 14, 2008 Location: South Carolina Posts: 2,918	I would try to run the gun with one less round in the mags and see if it does it again hollow points and ball. I also would do a little polishing on the feed ramp to ensure there are no burs. If that does not work then I would look into sending it back home for repair. __________________ We know exactly where one cow with Mad-cow-disease is located, among the millions and millions of cows in America, but we haven't got a clue where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are

October 18, 2017, 09:22 PM	#2
JERRYS. Senior Member Join Date: September 23, 2013 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,968	try mag guts. you shouldn't have to, but try them.

October 18, 2017, 09:30 PM	#3
CalmerThanYou Senior Member Join Date: April 16, 2017 Posts: 323	Checked my follower and it has a small dimple in the same place, yours seems to have become deeper and larger. Seems like it would not be drastic enough to cause feeding issues though??

October 19, 2017, 07:46 AM	#5
adamBomb Senior Member Join Date: September 19, 2015 Location: coastal NC Posts: 645	I would try to reproduce it with the FMJ and get a new magazine and test that as well with both types of ammo. This will help you determine if its the ammo, mags, or pistol.

October 19, 2017, 08:41 AM	#6
otasan Junior member Join Date: April 17, 2005 Location: Hartford, Vermont Posts: 519	This feed jam occurs because the bottom of the hollow point hits the bottom of the feed ramp. You need a new follower in your magazine.

October 20, 2017, 12:30 PM	#7
RSKENT Member Join Date: November 25, 2004 Location: Land of Blue Sky and Sunshine Posts: 38	My G43 feeds hollow points just fine. My magazines also don’t have the divot that yours do. Have you tried to send your photos to Glock? It would be interesting to find out what they think.

October 20, 2017, 12:40 PM	#8
divil Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 2009 Posts: 506	Thanks for the input everyone. I have not called Glock about the magazine marks. However I have asked on other forums and the consensus from various people is that these marks on the follower are common, and not the problem.

October 20, 2017, 01:45 PM	#9
SonOfScubaDiver Senior Member Join Date: October 1, 2017 Posts: 391	Maybe the gun just doesn't like that particular ammo. Glocks aren't known for being particularly finicky when it comes to ammo choices, but maybe this one is. I've heard of people polishing the feed ramp to address feeding issues. Maybe that would work.

October 21, 2017, 10:13 AM	#13
TailGator Senior Member Join Date: May 8, 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 3,787	Unless the lighting is playing tricks on me, that feed ramp looks pretty marked up, more than I would expect. There may be only a few hanging up, but there could be a considerably higher number that are not feeding smoothly and making the ramp rougher and rougher. I might be calling Glock by now if it was mine.

October 21, 2017, 12:27 PM	#15
tangolima Senior Member Join Date: September 28, 2013 Posts: 3,816	Sounds like it is problem only with the 1st round out of a full mag. The follower shouldn't be the cause. It is a subcompact Glock. It is pretty hard to shove the last round (top round) into the mag as the mag has very limited space. Feeding a round into the chamber requires the round goes down a little further in the mag. It would be hard if the mag is already bottoms out. It can be improved by shaving a little plastic off the underside of the follower. I did a few of those for a customer. Another option is of course to load the mag one round less. -TL Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

October 21, 2017, 03:05 PM	#17
divil Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 2009 Posts: 506	Thanks for the advice everyone. I can't make it happen with FMJ, only JHP. The ramp is actually much smoother than it looks. I took the barrel out for a closer look and although it had some dirt and tiny flecks of copper, it has no damage of any kind. I will say that I'm usually careful to seat the rounds all the way back, but I've tried loading them too far forward to see if that will reproduce the problem with the Winchester JHPs I have lying around...but it doesn't seem to matter. Also, these mags are quite easy to compress compared to the double stacks, and even with all 6 loaded, there's no problem pushing down about another 1/2 cartridge diameter. I will have to get some more of the same ammo and do some more experimenting. I'll report back what I can find out. At this point it looks like calling Glock for help is inevitable though!

October 21, 2017, 07:18 PM	#18
otasan Junior member Join Date: April 17, 2005 Location: Hartford, Vermont Posts: 519	This use to happen in my G17 a decade ago. Glock made follower changes to my magazines and it fixed it.

October 21, 2017, 09:21 PM	#19
divil Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 2009 Posts: 506	Well, I went shopping and bought various different JHP rounds, and spent literally hours testing the gun. Here's what I found out: * it's the 147gr Hydrashok that's the biggest troublemaker, the 124 seems fine. * when it happens, I discovered that tapping the mag home instead of racking the slide also fixes it. However, doing this in advance doesn't improve things (I think it might actually make it worse but I would need to spend a lot more time to be certain). * it happens a lot less often if I only load 5 instead of 6, but it does still happen sometimes. * it happens a bit more often with one magazine than the other, but definitely happens with both. With the various brands I bought, I did the following experiment. I loaded the mag with 5 of the 147gr Hydrashok, then for the top round I loaded 1 of the brand being tested, racked the slide, dropped the mag, unchambered the round, put it back in the mag, and repeated all that 10 times. Here are the failure rates I got: Hydrashok 147gr: 4-8/10 Hydrashok 124gr: 0/10 PMC Blazer: 0/10 Speer Gold Dot: 0/10 Fiocchi : 1/10 Hornady CD : 0/20 Still 0 failures out of several hundred for any brand of FMJ. Throughout this experiment I periodically repeated 10 cycles of the Hydrashok as a control, hence the varying failure rate. It was pretty consistent. I find it weird that the lighter Hydrashok appears flawless. I have to test that one more but my hands are sore now so it will have to wait. Interestingly, you can see a difference in these 2 weights. The lighter ones have a crimp mark around the circumference of the case, and the heavier ones don't. I measure the length of each brand and they're all very close to 1.1". There's a small variation between brands but I couldn't see any connection with overall length and reliability. Hondary Critical Defence were the longest and they were totally reliable. Anyhoo...I think the magazines are suspect and I might give Glock a call and see what they say.

October 23, 2017, 09:38 AM	#20
otasan Junior member Join Date: April 17, 2005 Location: Hartford, Vermont Posts: 519	I would imagine that the 147 cartridge would jam on the bottom of the barrel feed ramp more. The round is slightly longer than the 124gr rounds. The 147gr cartridge starts closer to the bottom of the feed ramp.

October 23, 2017, 09:46 AM	#22
otasan Junior member Join Date: April 17, 2005 Location: Hartford, Vermont Posts: 519	The designers of the 147gr 9mm rounds should have done more research work.

October 23, 2017, 10:50 AM	#23
FITASC Senior Member Join Date: December 6, 2014 Posts: 6,441	147s were originally designed for sub guns - maybe small handgun designers should have done more homework... __________________ "I believe that people have a right to decide their own destinies; people own themselves. I also believe that, in a democracy, government exists because (and only so long as) individual citizens give it a 'temporary license to exist'—in exchange for a promise that it will behave itself. In a democracy, you own the government—it doesn't own you."- Frank Zappa

October 23, 2017, 07:58 PM	#25
divil Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 2009 Posts: 506	I called Glock and they said they'd replace the mags if they're not marked "01", but I checked and they are. I also found this which seems to confirm a lot of what I found regarding the case dimensions of the 147gr Hydrashok. The author says that having a rim makes the cartridge more prone to what he called "nosedive" (i.e. getting stuck on the feed ramp due to not pointing upwards enough). He also says single stack mags are more prone to this anyway. Since my measurements show that the 147gr round has a rim that's 0.004" wider than the rim of every other 9mm cartridge (including even the 124gr Hydrashok) I think that's bound to be a factor. But still, there has to be something wrong with the magazines since other people aren't having this issue.